Although it would seem as if the franchise has started to wind down a little, "CSI" remains one of the most successful shows that the CBS Network has produced in recent years, so it's understandable that the popular mystery/drama has spawned not one, but two spin offs - the first of which saw sun-soaked mysteries popping up near the beaches of Miami.

The show focuses on lead detective Horatio Caine (David Caruso, finally making his comeback), who solves - with his forensics crew - some of Miami's toughest cases. They go through blood stain evidence, ballistics and every other possible detail relating to the case. Helping Caine are Calleigh Dusquene (Emily Procter), recovery expert Eric Delko (Adam Rodriguez) and others.

The show often spends the hour going through one distinct, standalone crime. Although the focus often hovers around the Caruso character, the supporting players do good work, and occasionally get their chance to shine in some of the episodes. The visuals are as slick as the series the show has spun-off from - a series of experienced cinematographers bring the sort of golden-hued look that producer Jerry Bruckheimer's feature films often sport. The elaborate trick shots that get the viewer into the middle of the evidence also return here, as well.

While the 10th season of "CSI: Miami" seemed like more than a good enough spot to bring the series to a close, there's something about this particular "CSI" that I'll miss. While Caruso's acting could understandably be viewed by some as bad or hammy, Caruso had turned his gravelly take on corny lines into an art form. The performance may have been cheesy, but Caruso sold lines - the pauses, the hilarious distant stares - like they were fine cheese flown directly from the Swiss Alps. The performance was often criticized, but in its own way, I thought it was one of the best things about the series. The Caruso one-liner even got one fan to put together a highly amusing reel of seemingly hundreds of Caruso one-liners from the series, one-after-another, on Youtube in this clip. Even Jim Carrey was a fan, as the comedian does an imitation of Caruso in this clip on Youtube from a "Letterman" appearance a few years ago.

The 10th season of the series was the last for the series and was the shortest of the bunch at 19 episodes before it was cancelled. The series had become more inconsistent towards the close, but at least never got to the point where there was an episode-in-an-episode where Caruso the actor had to solve a mystery using what he learned from working on the show ("I've learned one thing (five minute pause...stares into the distance, then puts on the shades) the show must go on.")

The 10th season of the series opens with the tense conclusion of last season's finale and offers a number of other highlights, such as Carlos Bernard ("24")'s turn as a nemesis to Caruso's character in "Look Who's Taunting". Bernard remains a terrific supporting player who deserves his own show at some point. "Crowned", which sees the team taking on the "Toddlers and Tiaras"-style scene with a case that revolves around the dark side of pageants. "Long Gone" (Horatio and the team investigate the case of a missing family) and the two-part finale also work well.

"CSI Miami" was corny and over-the-top at times, but the series often made that work in its favor. While the series started to become more inconsistent towards the end, it did offer an entertaining lead in Caruso and a fine supporting cast.

VIDEO:"CSI: Miami" is presented by Paramount in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. The season saw a change in filming style as the season saw the series move from filming on film to filming in HD. The picture quality is very good - in my opinion, the image remained as excellent as the prior season presentations. Sharpness and detail remained fantastic throughout, as the level of definition remained very pleasing. Fine object detail was often apparent, and there was often nice depth to the image.

The presentations largely seemed flawless. Some light shimmering occured a couple of times, but I didn't notice any instances of edge enhancement, pixelation or print/element flaws. Colors remained bright and vibrant, with nice saturation and no smearing. Flesh tones remained accurate, while black level remained solid. Overall, this is superlative work.
SOUND: "CSI: Miami" is presented by Paramount in Dolby Digital 5.1. The show's audio is pretty good for a television program. Surrounds aren't put into terribly aggressive use, but the rear speakers do come in during many episodes to deliver some nicely placed sound effects. Audio quality remained superb, as sound effects and dialogue remained crisp and seemed well-recorded. The opening Who track also has a dynamic, full quality and kicks off the episodes strongly.

EXTRAS: "Long Gone" offers audio commentary from Rexx Linn, Marc Dube, James Wilcox and Barry O'Brien, while "Look Who's Taunting" offers thoughts from Jonathan Togo, Krystal Houghton Ziv, Marco Black and Ken Glassing. It's nice to see that, despite the shortened final season, the studio didn't skimp on extras, as these commentaries provide a very enjoyable overview of the final season of the series. While fairly short and promotional in nature, "The Miami Look", "A Perfect Ten" and "A Tripp to the Set" fill out the extras with some brief insights and behind-the-scenes footage. Finally, we get deleted scenes and an amusing gag reel.

Final Thoughts: It was probably the right time for "CSI Miami" to head off into the Miami sunset, but despite a shortened season, there are still some highlights and Caruso one-liners. The DVD offers fine audio/video and a nice set of supplemental features. Recommended for fans.